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This week we are happy to bring back Wes Hurley’s WAXIE MOON IN FALLEN JEWEL to Central Cinema. If you missed last month’s sold out screening or you are itching to watch it again (believe me we all are!) then you will have your chance on Thursday March 28th at 8:00pm. The film will be hosted by star, Waxie Moon and the alluring and always talented Ben DeLacreme! Expect insanity, musical performances and tons of surprises!

We sat down with director Wes Hurley for 3 Questions.
1. What were your inspirations and influences for Waxie Moon In Fallen Jewel?

The initial inspiration for Waxie Moon in Fallen Jewel came from Marc and I’s shared love of “Sex and the City” and the old “women’s films” particularly Douglas Sirk’s masterpieces like “All That Heaven Allows” and “Imitation of Life”. We wanted to imagine Waxie in these genres. I love Goddard’s “Breathless” and the ending in that film is referenced a lot in our ending. Many of my muses in Seattle are dancers and performance artists but I’m also very much in love with all things pulp, melodrama and low brow, so in my films I like to explore different ways in which stylized movement and experimental performance art can serve a seemingly tawdry narrative and vice versa. So you’ll see things like Waxie channeling Martha Graham in her moments of grief and the ghost of Klaus Nomi suddenly taking over an aerobics instructor during a big musical number. Sarah Rudinoff’s number which was composed by the brilliant Eric Lane Barnes and choreographed by the equally brilliant Wade Madsen, was initially inspired by the Bollywood legend, Helen, and the very dramatic music video “Original Sin” by Taylor Dayne. I had “Original Sin” on VHS back when I was a teenager in Russia and I’d play that video over and over and over and over again so it’s forever burned into my brain. Other things that really influenced the aesthetic of this film are Japanese anime, Tom of Finland, the Kuchar Brothers, Lynch, Fassbender, Fellini, 70’s porn, and silent movies. The film is so different that it’s hard to explain to people so sometimes I mention John Waters, but in reality the only thing I have in common with early John Waters is making feature films on no budget and having a drag performer as my muse, although I don’t think Divine and Waxie have much in common.

What was one of the biggest challenges of getting the movie made?

The biggest challenge in making the film was scheduling. There are over 200 people involved and they’re all busy working artists. Everybody was very generous and supportive but juggling so many schedules was hard. I’m so grateful to everybody involved but especially Harmony Arnold, my co-producer and costume designer, who basically lived and breathed this film that summer and worked so hard on making it look like a million bucks. My other co-producer and art director, Jennifer Zeyl, was also instrumental in making this film happen. She embraced my gorilla style film-making and believed in my warped vision from the start; she brought many artists on board. I don’t know what I would do without these two women.

What is your favorite swear word?

My goal is to stop swearing and be classy. I never swore in Russia, but it’s easy to say “fuck” for me because on some level it’s still a very foreign and sterile word. I have to remind myself that it probably sounds just as vulgar to native English speakers as some Russian words do to me. But yeah usually it’s like “fucking fuck fuck” or “jesus on a stick!”